The pitch in Croke Park warrants a visit to the stadium in itself. Hail, rain or shine – the combination of technology and expert maintenance ensures a consistent, high-performing playing surface all year round.

Croke Park has deployed a Connected Stadium solution based on Cisco Technologies and best practices. The network infrastructure within the stadium is based on Cisco’s Stadium Vision and is a highly scalable, secure network designed specifically for sports and entertainment venues and brings together all forms of access, communications, entertainment and operations onto a single innovative platform.

Floodlights

The €5 million floodlight programme was the final phase in a major redevelopment programme and the stadium hosted its first floodlight event in front of a capacity crowd of 82,300, on 3 February 2007.

The pitch floodlight system was designed to FIFA standards by Thorn Lighting who also supplied lighting for Super Bowl XL1 in Miami. The system has the capability of different scene settings up to and above 270 foot candles horizontally and 180 foot candles vertically, which allows for High Definition TV demands. Stadium floodlights are powered by independent synchronous generators.

Stadium Power

Croke Park is supplied by one main incomer with a MIC of 2400kVA, which is supported by two 800kVA cogeneration generators. In June 2014, €1m was invested in increasing power supply capability to the concession unit upgrades on public levels. This capital investment included the supply and installation of two new 800kVA diesel generators and a synchronising control system. All game related services such as communication services, PA system, dressing rooms, video boards and emergency lighting are run by an in-house generator during event days. Floodlights and media services are powered by independent synchronous generators.

Big Screens

Daktronics completed the installation of new state-of-the-art HD screens in summer 2015, to deliver sharper live footage and match graphics to all patrons - even under the harshest sunlight and at the most acute angles. Content creation is managed by a new ROSS entertainment management system, keeping fans up-to-date at a glance. In addition, the old scoreboard and clock have been replaced by a 16m ribbon board.